Teaching Embodied: Cultural Practice in Japanese Preschools

When we look beyond lesson planning and curricula―those explicit facets that comprise so much of our discussion about education―we remember that teaching is an inherently social activity, shaped by a rich array of implicit habits, comportments, and ways of communicating. This is as true in the United States as it is in Japan, where Akiko Hayashi and Joseph Tobin have long studied early education from a cross-cultural perspective. Taking readers inside the classrooms of Japanese preschools, Teaching Embodied explores the everyday, implicit behaviors that form a crucially important―but grossly understudied―aspect of educational practice. Akiko Hayashi and Joseph Tobin embed themselves in the classrooms of three different teachers at three different schools to examine how teachers act, think, and talk. Drawing on extended interviews, their own real-time observations, and hours of video footage, they focus on how teachers embody their lessons: how they use their hands to gesture, comfort, or discipline; how they direct their posture, gaze, or physical location to indicate degrees of attention; and how they use the tone of their voice to communicate empathy, frustration, disapproval, or enthusiasm. Comparing teachers across schools and over time, they offer an illuminating analysis of the gestures that comprise a total body language, something that, while hardly ever explicitly discussed, the teachers all share to a remarkable degree. Showcasing the tremendous importance of―and dearth of attention to―this body language, they offer a powerful new inroad into educational study and practice, a deeper understanding of how teaching actually works, no matter what culture or country it is being practiced in.

Education & Teaching

Tobin, Joseph

Hayashi, Akiko

Schools & Teaching

University of Chicago Press

When we look beyond lesson planning and curricula—those explicit facets that comprise so much of our discussion about education—we remember that teaching is an inherently social activity, shaped by a rich array of implicit habits, comportments, and ways of communicating. This is as true in the United States as it is in Japan, where Akiko Hayashi and Joseph Tobin have long studied early education from a cross-cultural perspective. Taking readers inside the classrooms of Japanese preschools, Teaching Embodied explores the everyday, implicit behaviors that form a crucially important—but grossly understudied—aspect of educational practice. Akiko Hayashi and Joseph Tobin embed themselves in the classrooms of three different teachers at three different schools to examine how teachers act, think, and talk. Drawing on extended interviews, their own real-time observations, and hours of video footage, they focus on how teachers embody their lessons: how they use their hands to gesture, comfort, or discipline; how they direct their posture, gaze, or physical location to indicate degrees of attention; and how they use the tone of their voice to communicate empathy, frustration, disapproval, or enthusiasm. Comparing teachers across schools and over time, they offer an illuminating analysis of the gestures that comprise a total body language, something that, while hardly ever explicitly discussed, the teachers all share to a remarkable degree. Showcasing the tremendous importance of—and dearth of attention to—this body language, they offer a powerful new inroad into educational study and practice, a deeper understanding of how teaching actually works, no matter what culture or country it is being practiced in.

Published twenty years ago, the original Preschool in Three Cultures was a landmark in the study of education: a profoundly enlightening exploration of the different ways preschoolers are taught in China, Japan, and the United States. Here, lead author Joseph Tobin—along with new collaborators Yeh Hsueh and Mayumi Karasawa—revisits his original research to discover how two decades of globalization and sweeping social transformation have affected the way these three cultures educate and care for their youngest pupils. Putting their subjects’ responses into historical perspective, Tobin, Hsueh, and Karasawa analyze the pressures put on schools to evolve and to stay the same, discuss how the teachers adapt to these demands, and examine the patterns and processes of continuity and change in each country. 
Featuring nearly one hundred stills from the videotapes, Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited artfully and insightfully illustrates the surprising, illuminating, and at times entertaining experiences of four-year-olds—and their teachers—on both sides of the Pacific.

Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited: China, Japan, and the United States

Politics & Social Sciences

Hsueh, Yeh

Karasawa, Mayumi

Anthropology

Science & Math

Behavioral Sciences

Teaching Expertise in Three Countries: Japan, China, and the United States

A comparison of the development of expertise in preschool teaching in China, Japan, and the United States. In Teaching Expertise in Three Countries, Akiko Hayashi shows how teachers from &nbsp;Japan, China, and the United States think about what it means to be an expert teacher. Based on interviews with teachers conducted over the span of fifteen years and videos taken in their classrooms, Hayashi gives us a valuable portrait of expert teachers in the making. While Hayashi's research uncovered cultural variations in the different national contexts, her analysis of how teachers adapted their pedagogy throughout their careers also revealed many cross-national similarities. Younger teachers often describe themselves as being in a rush, following scripts, and "talking too much," while experienced teachers describe themselves as being quieter, knowing children better, and being more present. &nbsp; Including a foreword by scholar of early childhood education Joseph Tobin, Teaching Expertise in Three Countries provides a foundation for understanding the sequence and pathways of development over the first decade of teaching in three national contexts, demonstrating the value of the field of comparative education in the process.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

"Good Guys Don't Wear Hats": Children's Talk About The Media

Joseph Tobin offers a fresh perspective on how children make sense of media representations of race, sex, violence, and class. By weaving such cutting-edge approaches as poststructuralism, performance theory, and critical theory into his analysis, he demonstrates how the meanings children give to media messages depend on the local contexts in which they live. Tobin challenges the convention that children are easily fooled by the media and suggests instead that they are capable of resistant interpretations of the movies and television they watch. Laced with the voices and perspectives of young children, who are wise, funny, and creative in their grasp of the media, this book is a must read for anyone who cares about the modern kid.

Social Sciences

Teachers' College Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tobin, Joseph. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Tobin, Joseph

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tobin, Joseph. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Teaching Embodied: Cultural Practice in Japanese Preschools

Teaching Embodied: Cultural Practice in Japanese Preschools

Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited: China, Japan, and the United States

Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited: China, Japan, and the United States

Teaching Expertise in Three Countries: Japan, China, and the United States

"Good Guys Don't Wear Hats": Children's Talk About The Media

"Good Guys Don't Wear Hats": Children's Talk About The Media